The Delhi government’s Excise department on June 23, 2019, raided a ‘Boiler Room party’ organised at The Lalit Hotel on Barakhamba Road, as the organisers failed to procure “required licences for the event”.
Reportedly, the Excise department officials found out about the event after getting their hands on an invite which read: “Boiler Room comes to Delhi for a night of raving”.
“We did not find any (narcotic) substances when we raided the premises… they (the hotel staff) switched off the lights and several people managed to flee,” said ACP Alok Kumar, who headed the raid.
The Boiler Room, founded in London, is an online music broadcasting platform commissioning and streaming live music sessions around the world.
“In Delhi, the event was hosted on Sunday, and artists from Italy, Denmark and Mumbai were expected to perform at the event attended by over 5,000 people,” the officer said.
In an official statement issued by the hotel, they said: “The Lalit has always been a law abiding organisation. We are cooperating with the authorities to clarify the issues.”
The Excise department has claimed that the event was organised “in the basement which was a violation, as that space could only be used for parking vehicles.”
Further, the department also claimed that “several bar counters were found in the basement and authorities did not have permissions from NDMC, re department, Delhi Police and health department.”
“We found that the hotel took 9 P-13 permits for serving liquor in Kitty Su, the crystal ball room and for a pool side party. However, when we raided the location, we found them organising the party at the basement, which is illegal,” Kumar said.
The Excise department said that the hotel was involved in selling commercial tickets and sold liquor in the basement for which they had to take P-10 (A) permits costing Rs 1 lakh as per the law. “Instead, they have applied for P-13 permits, paying a fee of Rs 5,000, and this is an evasion of fee,” Kumar said.
As per reports, no FIR has been registered. The police are questioning the organisers.
